Group A

Not a lot of competition for KOO who is actually the second seed from Korea. CLG was the top team in the group for winning the North American LCS summer championship, but they will have to play above average to beat KOO in this group, which is very possible. Flash Wolves and paiN aren’t really in a position to make any upsets happen. This is the weakest group by a long shot and your winner most likely won’t come from this group. CLG got lucky with this group, so look for them and KOO to be the winners easy.

Group B

1. fnatic
2. Invictus Gaming
3. ahq e-Sports Club
4. Cloud 9

This will be a tough fight for first place between iG and fnatic, and they start things off right from the start on day one against each other. ahq can challenge, but probably doesn’t have quite enough to compete with them, and Cloud 9 is lucky to be here at all after how bad they played in the summer split of the LCS.

Group C

1. SK Telecom T1
2. Edward Gaming
3. H2k-Gaming
4. Bangkok Titans

These two teams could very well be your two finalists. SKT comes in as the favorite to win, and Edward Gaming has been flying high until they got upset by LGD to end the summer season. That put them in the unfortunate position of being thrown in pool two, leading to them getting SKT in their group draw.

Group D

1. LGD Gaming
2. KT Rolster
3. Origen
4. Team SoloMid

If there is one team that can really surprise at worlds it’s going to be Origen. They are playing really well right now and took fnatic to their limit in the LCS summer championship. LGD has a couple of strong Koreans on their team from the two Samsung teams that broke up after last year’s world championships, including imp, who is going for his second world title after winning last year with Samsung Galaxy White.

Day Two

Day two’s games on DraftKings haven’t come out yet, so keep an eye out after tomorrow’s games are done. You’ll most likely have to enter sometime the night before if you want to play each day that follows day one.

There are a few interesting match-ups on day two, and we get to see the remaining teams in action. I’ll also give players to watch out for, although we won’t know the prices until Thursday night.

KT Rolster vs. Team SoloMid

Right off the bat, we get America’s favorite team against Korea. The bad thing is, although this is the third seed out of Korea, TSM just isn’t playing very well right now. TSM has made every world championships, but the only player who has on the team is Dyrus, and this could be his last hurrah. However, Dyrus is probably not a player you want to pick up in fantasy. Although a vital part of TSM over the years, he does die a lot, and his fantasy numbers may not be that high. For KT Rolster this is a chance to start out strong before having to face LGD on Saturday.

LGD Gaming vs. Origen

LGD is the favorite to win the group, but don’t count out Origen. This is a new roster, but they have made worlds after almost defeating fnatic in the EU LCS finals, and running the gauntlet in the regional finals. Players on Origen have seen some success, such as sOAZ and xPeke as they have both qualified for three world championships. LGD Gaming is going to be a tough game to win for Origen, but it’s one they are capable of pulling the upset in. LGD has former world champion imp, who is looking to make it two in a row. Also, GODV is possibly the greatest player in the entire tournament, and came in at #3 on Riot’s player rankings heading in. LGD is definitely the favorite in Group D, but will have some tougher games than they would like against KT Rolster and Origen. Be careful with the picks though because they will most likely be among the most expensive players on the board.

Bangkok Titans vs. SK Telecom T1

This will be a blowout. Bangkok Titans get two of the best three teams to start things off. This is not going to be a fun world championships for them.

SK Telecom T1: Bang (ADC), Faker (Mid), Marin (Top)

Winner: SK Telecom T1

H2k-Gaming vs. Edward Gaming

Another blowout, as H2k and BKT just swap opponents. One thing to look for here is Odoamne against AmazingJ in the top lane. With Koro1 sitting out as a sub, this might be a better match-up for Odoamne. Ryu vs. Pawn may be a decent match-up too, but Edward Gaming still wins this one easy enough I think.

EDG: Clearlove (Jungle), Deft (ADC)H2K: Odoamne (Top)

Winner: Edward Gaming

Flash Wolves vs. KOO Tigers

KOO should win this one easy enough, but if you’re looking for a game to miss so that you can go run an errand or two, this would be the one. Not to mention it’s around lunchtime. Stay with Gorilla as a solid pick here along with his ADC PraY, and it may be worth going with Smeb over Steak as well. The one hope for Flash Wolves is Maple playing well in the mid-lane. If you pick a player, pick him. One day one, he was $2,000 cheaper than KurO.

Counter-Logic Gaming vs. paiN Gaming

CLG doesn’t need to write this off as an easy win and slip up to paiN. Even dropping one game to paiN or Flash Wolves could be enough to drop them out of the top seed, even if they do split with KOO. I think Doublelift is going to look to be strong here, but this is a game where you may just want to stay away from picks unless you are looking for a budget pick.

Jon Lunceford is a sports media broadcaster and digital professional. Jon is a graduate of the University of Alabama school of journalism, and played football at Birmingham-Southern College. He has also won two AHSAA Football State Championships while at Homewood High School and was a two-time World Cyber Games Team USA representative. He currently hosts Primetime on WJOX 94.5 and runs the high school athletics site JoxPreps.